


Gamer Komaeda and Mechanic Hinata

by UltimateProtagonistNerd



Series: Talentswap AU ships Dangan Ronpa [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair, Fluff, Gamer! Komaeda, Gay, Gay Male Character, Mechanic! Hinata, Multi, talentswap au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 20:10:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1400896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UltimateProtagonistNerd/pseuds/UltimateProtagonistNerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Super High School Level Gamer Nagito Komaeda has arrived at the prestigious Hope's Peak academy and immediately heads to the game room that his map tells him is there. Inside that room, working on the arcade cabinets is Hajime Hinata, SHSL Mechanic. </p><p>Several meetings ensue during this school term, the first for their class, and it takes two whole weeks for Hinata to gather (barely) enough courage to ask his eccentric friend out on a date.</p><p>(And other pairings shall get their own plotlines too)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Enter Nagito Komaeda

There he was, standing just in front of the Game room's door. Super High School Level Gamer, Nagito Komaeda, one of the most popular figures in Japan's entire gaming community was attending Hope's Peak. He opened the door and looked around at the cabinets with such titles as "Pac-Man", "Galaxian", "Street Fighter", and other classics. He turned around and saw someone leaning over what from this angle seemed to be a Galaga table, using several tools to fix it.

This should be one of his classmates he was thinking, presumably the Mechanic from the job he was presently working on. Quickly Komaeda yanked out his small database from one of the innumerable pockets in his coat and read through the class list.

The guy's name would turn out to be Hajime Hinata.

Komaeda's pager went of and he tapped away on the keys, communicating with his people, this caused Hinata to turn around surprised that somebody was interrupting.

_Ping! taptapclack_

**Hinata POV**

I was just working on the first assignment they gave me when I walked in, fixing a broken down Arcade game to get a grade this period. Some people did drop by here and there to check on this room, some of them students, others faculty. It got to 9:30 without much interruption on the project when suddenly a ping and tapping on some keys came from the area of the door behind me.

I turned to see some guy in a hoodie with a belt buckle that looked like a spaceship who's hair, from what I could tell was like a mop and probably dyed.

Who is this kid? Does he even notice me sitting here?

He looked back up from his device and I guess...tried to wave hello at me while he pulled out a can of soda.

This will get really interesting I bet. What with all these 'interesting' students.

"Er... I'm sorry to intrude on anything here." this wavy haired kid with the belt and weird blondish-pink dye job said while stuffing away his electronic item in his coat pocket. I must have been staring at him a bit to intently because he was getting uncomfortable and then after a few moments of eye contact he realized he was forgetting an introduction.

"Oh jeez sorry, jus sort of going haywire here with all the new things going on. I'm Nagito Komaeda, probably the most popular gamer in Japan."

I don't think I've ever seen him before, heard his name once or twice probably.

"That's exactly what the last guy in here claimed he was" I said.

He just kind of chuckled and asked me "Well who was this guy? I'm sure that I beat him in a tourney before."

I responded, "Didn't catch the person's name, he didn't speak to me."

He does that same chuckle again, and really it's actually kind of cute, and pulls out a magazine with his face on the cover and states "Well I actually have evidence to back up my claim."

The cover read: "Japan's national gaming sensation Nagito Komaeda is victorious at the regional prefecture finals tournament."

"Dude your smile here looks like you're going to kill somebody"

Somehow he doesn't take any offense to this and just flashes what I assume to be his signature smile before swigging some more caffeinated beverage. Let me tell you in real life it's much more flattering and less...demented looking?

"So whatcha working on?" he asks.

"Just need to patch up this bad boy right here" I say, showing off a cabinet of Galaga.

"Oh man that's like my favorite game" he directed me to his belt buckle and laughed that endearing laugh again.

"Looks like you're going to be able to play a good test run of this, so why don't you give it a shot?"

"I'll give it much more than a shot" he said, placing the beverage on the table next to the screen, making me uneasy but it was probably something he always did, and looking down at it he got to work doing his thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Komaeda's hair in canon is white because of the illness, it actually should be brown. However since this kid is so eccentric he probably wanted to dye it funny so it's all light pink and silvery-blonde I guess you could say.
> 
> At long last the first chapter gets completed!


	2. He's Cute When He Wins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second day and second meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking a break from my murder games for a second to bring back one of the most well received pieces I've ever worked on. Here is some cute non-despair, talent swapped interactions.
> 
> After a years long wait, the second chapter is finally here!

The next day Nagito Komaeda returned to the Game Room and Hajime greeted him while seated on a new Virtual-On machine that had been delivered the prior night. He was testing for bugs, but didn't know much about it. 

Nagito sat in the seat next to him, the pink colored seat, and the second player position.

The mechanic turned to him, having just completed a round of the game as part of his testing duties, "You'd probably be better able to find glitches in this game. I'm not sure what it's like when it's running at it's best but it seems fine so far."

Nagito laughed. "Of course, I'd never turn down an offer like that. Just don't be upset when I win, okay?" And sure enough, it wasn't even a match. Hajime was far outclassed from the beginning of the match. Nagito got the first shot off and immediately followed it up with a missile, and sliding out of the other players line of sight. Within half the round's time limit it was already over with Nagito's mecha barely taking any damage.

The second round wasn't much better, even when preparing himself this time for the unholy fury the gamer unleashed, a little bit more damage was inflicted but the flurry remained largely the same. It was like trying to catch a small rodent that ran into the engine of his car, with the added bonus of laser blasts frequently interrupting his attempts. Though he was below even a rookie level, he could tell this guy was serious business.

Seemingly as soon as it started, the match also concluded with an obvious winner, already laughing in joy before the screen even flashed with the final results.

Then, Hajime thought to himself, " _If anybody else did that to me I'd be embarrassed, but this guy. He's cute when he wins._ "

And that was the second day they met, they split up at lunchtime because Nagito was called to have a meal at a local restaurant/arcade to open up a wing of the business with his sponsors names on it, while Hajime had other priorities. Like fixing a teachers car for them and having already packed lunch today he had no need to get food anywhere else.

 So he spent the rest of the day working and occasionally drifted off into his own thoughts, while he was okay with Nagito winning, he wondered if there was something that he would be unable to do. Like a way to distract him enough for a major fluke to happen, or a type of genre of game he would be unable to succeed at even against amateurs. Just how far did this man's talent extend? Hajime's stubbornly competitive streak kicked in and made the mechanic want to see if he could challenge the other.

And that's when he had the idea. An entire week of just pointing him to a game they could run competitive co-op on the different games in here, culminating in one that a rather non-athletic type like Komaeda wouldn't have the stamina to do, something more physically.

Dance Dance Revolution would be the final test to see if he was as perfect as he seemed to be.

Now all that needed to happen was to be in the same place the next morning to meet him again to put the plan into motion.


	3. Down, Set, Hike!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Day, yet another game. This time it's an arcade cabinet for a Football game.

The birds chirped, the sun shining bright for another April day. Hajime was on his lunchbreak, chowing down on a bento box just outside of the game room when his new friend came by again. He was a little bit later than usual, and was drinking at least two cans of Dr Hopper. A lot of people came in and out of that room and the surrounding technology wing of the school, but none of them quite brightened up the mechanic's day like this kid did.

Hajime placed his food to the side for a moment, chopsticks laying on top of the rice and then proceeded to stand up, holding his hand out. Nagito waved and they shook hands, bowing and then taking a step back.

The mechanic spoke first. "A-ah, are you up for a challenge perhaps, Komaeda?"

The gamer swirled the soda in its can and chugged another quarter of it. "I'm always up for a challenge. What are we doing today?"

Hajime picked up his food and opened the door, allowing his friend entry first. When the two of them were inside, he took a few more hurried bites and placed the box on a nearby table before beckoning the gamer over towards a cabinet which had a multiplayer American Football game on it. The producers, Halfway, were apparently really popular for making these types of fast-paced sports games around a decade ago. The machine was fairly old but there was barely any problem aside from slight wear in the screen's lighting, an easy fix.

They took a handful of moments, looking at the stats for each team before making a selection, Hajime guessed that a team with a high defensive rating would be the best idea to fight back against the aggressive playing style he noted Nagito had shown during their session on the Robot fighting game the day before. He had seen just enough to be confident the pattern would stick. Komaeda picked out a balanced team, a little bit off from the initial model, but nothing that shattered the gameplan.

Nagito allowed him to be first player. The second player was the first to get the ball after kickoff, meaning Hajime would defend first. A few passes and one sneak one later and he'd already ceded enough yards to place Nagito's team at the 15 yard line, and if the average yards gained so far were any indication, this was striking distance for a score. There seemed to be trouble stopping him up until that point, where two stops were made in succession that left him in roughly the same spot onto fourth down.

And then with a kick it was 3-0 in the gamer's favor, with slightly less than one minute elapsing from the clock.

The return drive was brutal and full of minor flubs and almost failures until he earned a break half a minute to teendh  of the first and ran his character for all his might, wasting all the boost energy in an bid to cross the end zone.

6-3, and when allowed his option of a free point or going for a two, Hajime played safe and opted for the former. 7-3

Half-time elapsed with a small back and forth, Nagito edging in a two-pointer (for a total score of 11-10) right before the clock got to go out and the second half's kickoff gave the mechanic another chance to get ahead.

A third quarter passes by, and it seemed like Hajime might actually pull it off with the score resting at 20-14 and having possession when the quarter switched over. That was a perfect opportunity to put the game away and...

"Ahaha, looks like I did it." a whole can of soda was chugged down in victory...

By Nagito Komaeda.

The last quarter was a veritable bloodbath leaving the final score as 35-20. 

They traded a couple of "good game" one liners, and a couple of jokes as the Gamer went on his way again.

This guy was proving to be sneakier than first imagined. That, or he really just was the best at every game.


	4. The Monkey Ball Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Didn't really have a creative name for this one. It's just Monkey Ball tbh.
> 
> Also Hajime might have come to a realization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long on this as you could probably tell by my previous work I'm not really the best at the whole deadlines thing. Forgot to put on the finishing touches for a while.
> 
> Monkey Ball is owned by Amusement Vision and Sega.

~Hajime POV~

It was now the third day of my gauntlet for the Gamer. After this it was three more games to go leading up to Dance Dance Revolution. And I still didn't have a single victory to show for this. Yet. There was a vast assortment of cabinets to practice on and I'll eventually find a genre I'm better at than Nagito. So far Mech fighters and sports were out of the question after the previous two rounds of trouncing.

I planned a schedule ahead of time, scratching notes far past regular bedtime. There needed to be a perfect way to exhaust my friend by switching things up in a way that was impossible to predict. Because if theres anything I've managed to put together so far from overthinking and daydreaming is that Nagito falls into a pattern a lot. A pattern that repeats. 

And yes, I did just admit to overthinking about him. Every detail I managed to get during our morning and afternoon meet-ups was tucked away in a mental note. I'm beginning to think I might have a crush on top of how much I want to best him at at least one game. Boy was this turning awkward.

Anyway I was beginning to develop eyebags and started to feel lethargic and apparently I didn't even hear him come in. It was right on time of course, I was just mentally late registering his presence until I felt a tapping on my shoulder. Shit. This was an automatic disadvantage for this round, not being in peak performance. This would become especially prevalent as I would figure out after losing the first round.

Basically the idea was that we would do best two out of three. Each round being a different difficulty setting: starting off with beginner, then moving to advanced, then finishing with expert. Our turn would end when we lost every life and our score was determined by how many of the platforms we completed prior to death. If they were left unfinished due to losing all lives, they would not be counted. Highest score wins the round.

And already that flub out of the gate I set myself up for a do or die scenario in just the 2nd of 3. I made it all the way to the 6th beginner floor (slopes) but kept falling over the edge after going downhill too quickly. And since it was just the beginner set of maps Nagito breezed through it without wasting a single life.

Now, the mechanism we came up with should it wind up a tie was to flip a coin and if it landed heads he would take the round, tails I would instead. I figured the only way I could pull this out was to tie him by staying alive throughout the next 2 sets and relying on dumb luck to save me.

However I wasn't an Ultimate Lucky Student, so Lady Luck was not guaranteed to be on my side. At the very least he wasn't the Lucky Student either.

And so the final count down began for me. He went first, and to my dismay Advanced had more than 10 floors. By the time he lost it all I found that there was at least 25 (fis final score for our second round). At the very least looking over his shoulder while he performed gave me a good idea of what I needed to avoid.

After his monkey's ultimate demise he offered me one of his cans of soda, which I gladly took and chugged. Leading him to chuckle and joke that I should consider that as the next challenge for us to face because maybe then I'd stand a chance. The little shit was purposely egging me on to get me to slip up... or was he? Theoretically this could also just be his way of motivating me to do better.

And that I did. Every bump, narrow bridge, corner, curve, block, and collapsing bit of the map was narrowly avoided and I didn't pull myself out of the game until I noticed this was the labyrinth that Nagito got slipped up with. Breathing deeply I pushed forward avoiding the bumpers and the first hole of this undersea maze. And I lost my last life to the cluster of smaller wholes beyond that point.

Hunched over the machine, already exasperated by this machine I heard him behind me, pointing out that we both wound up dying at the same point. I turned, breathe still held. And I didn't let it out until it stopped after spinning in the air and bouncing once to land in my favor. After that it was a hoot and a second wind of energy.

"Huh, I didn't realize your competitive streak ran this deep Hajime. Always keep in mind that these are just games." he said, smile and laid back aura remaining unwavering. Right. right. Just a game. Haha.

And after that I realized I probably should have practiced a bit more on the expert tier. I died on the second screen.

I resigned myself to defeat as he steamed through 3 levels and called it quits. He invited me to go out later tonight though, which is the weird part.

It was to a restaurant in the middle of town several blocks away, claimed he was bringing some friend. So that's where I'm going to be this evening after spending the afternoon fixing up the machine that I have next in store. And it might be my best shot yet.


End file.
